


Rebirth

by PurpleArrowzandLeather



Series: Kings and Queens of Hearts [15]
Category: Destiny (Video Games)
Genre: Akaiya is an angel, Cayde-6 is a good dad, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Ikora has good character development, Parent Cayde-6 (Destiny), Prophecy, Resurrection, Still don't like Zavala, some of this is probs angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-02
Updated: 2020-03-25
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:21:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 13,121
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21649741
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PurpleArrowzandLeather/pseuds/PurpleArrowzandLeather
Summary: Three hundred years ago, Malek made Kayleigh a promise. It's time to see it through.
Relationships: Amanda Holliday/Shiro-4, Cayde-6/Suraya Hawthorne, Devrim Kay/Ikora Rey, Uldren Sov/Kayleigh Sov
Series: Kings and Queens of Hearts [15]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/850170
Comments: 3
Kudos: 10





	1. Last Dance

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! *waves enthusiastically*  
> Sorry about the long wait. I am going to say that I'm starting this next work with a few mourning scenes that I thought up but didn't want to post on their own. I promise some of it is at least plot-related. Despite the huge wait, it's still largely unfinished, so.... Enjoy :)  
> Also, if you haven't read Warrior Before Vanguard, you probably should, since it contains the background for this, and the Return of Malek might also be beneficial to you.

Cayde would be a liar if he said that he didn’t spend the first month hunting down every lead he could in an attempt to help Kayleigh and Uldren. With Ikora hacking away at Zavala’s leash with a chainsaw, Cayde is almost completely free to move as he pleases. Well.... It’s possible Zavala is feeling a little sorry for the Hunter, and _has_ stopped trying to micromanage every little thing Cayde does. 

_Perish_ the thought. 

More often than not, Cayde is joined on patrols by his scouts, his faithful Hunters letting him know if they’ve seen Ghosts without Guardians or anything strange in regards to the Light. He can’t help it. 

Well, he could, but that would imply that he’s giving up, and there’s no way that’s happening. It’s almost crazy to Cayde how easy it is to go down to the city for a drink without Zavala breathing down his neck. Kayleigh would laugh and tell him to stop hovering over Cayde like a mother hen and he’d lay off real quick. 

Zavala is a liar if he tells people he hasn’t fed the Colonel. 

Honestly, anyone who says that they don’t love the Colonel is either a chicken-hater or a liar, and there is no in between. 

Cayde chuckles to himself as he scribbles his signature on the bottom line of some paperwork. The other two Vanguard members shoot him funny looks, but Cayde pays them no mind. It’s not often that he gets a good laugh, try as Shiro might, so he’ll take what he can get. 

He’s just lucky that Akaiya seems to have bounced back, even if she’s not quite as cheerful as Cayde vividly remembers her being. It breaks his heart, but he can’t change it. 

On matters of the mind, Cayde has never been much help. It kills him that his family is hurting, and he has no idea what he’s supposed to do. 

That’s why he’s dropping down at the landing zone in the Dreaming City. The trip to Uldren’s gravesite isn’t long, even if it feels like an eternity. When he can’t focus, he visits him, or Kayleigh, and on bad days, both of them. He chooses Kayleigh more often simply because she’s the only one with a true chance of hearing him. 

Today, though.... Today, Cayde just needs to talk without a soul to hear him. He needs solitude, but also companionship. 

It’s a common problem. 

Cayde tugs back the thick banner covering Uldren’s face, pulling himself up next to Uldren on the table and settling down. He isn’t a big Hunter by any means, so he fits beside Uldren just fine. He puts his back against a pillar, watching leaves flit by in the freezing autumn air. 

“Ah, buddy. You’ve got no idea how easy you have it right now. You wouldn’t believe how badly everything has gone to hell since you died.” 

Oh course, Uldren has no answer for him. He came because he didn’t want to have the temptation of expecting one. 

“It ain’t your fault. Nothing to be done or to be sorry for anyways. Though, I don’t suppose you could do me a solid an’ never mention this conversation to anyone ever?” 

The only response he gets is the wind howling in through his hood. 

“Thanks.” 

Cayde sighs to himself, wondering just when he became so lonely that he would have to find a corpse to keep him company. 

“So, I suppose you’ve already guessed that I’m here to prattle at you. I know, I know. ‘Get to the point, 6’. I’d say I’m surprised that you want me to be quiet, but who am I kidding?” 

The edge of Mara’s protective spell glows in the cold sunlight. Bitter winds seem to be rather prevalent on the hills of the Dreaming City, but maybe that’s just how they feel to Cayde. 

One can never be too sure with a metal body. 

“I’m not really much for obsessing over things, but I gotta tell ya’, it’s been rough. The House is a mess, and the Crows haven’t left the infirmary in the Tower for more than three hours at a time. I suppose that last bit should comfort you, that Kayleigh’s bein’ watched over, I mean.” 

Cayde watches alien birds of some sort fly overhead, their carefree nature a little disheartening. 

“I didn’t expect....” Cayde stops, scoffing. “Actually, I should have known better. Should have known that putting Drifter away wouldn’t have been the end of it. I mean, you’d think a guy like me would learn after a while to never trust a happy ending.” 

Cayde glances down at Uldren’s expression, not really knowing what he wants to find. Maybe it’s that grimace that usually denotes a grain of discomfort. Uldren was never particularly certain that he deserved the ending Kayleigh gave him, even if it was the best thing that ever happened to him. She could try to prove it to him as much as she wanted, but reassurance only did so much. It couldn’t change what he’d done. 

Cayde completely understood, and he still does. 

“S’pose not everything is that bad. Ramen’s still good. Akaiya is more like herself every day. Woulda’ never occurred to me t’ think we’d get so attached to you.” Cayde offers Uldren a light glare. “That’s right, Sov. I said ‘attached’ like it wasn’t a bad thing. I mean, for a guy who almost killed me, I would think the fact that we became friends would tell ya’ somethin’ about yourself.” 

Silence. 

“You ain’t the first one who’s had someone messin’ with your mind. Plenty of Exos know what that’s like. But, you were all sorts of messed up in the head.” Cayde lets out a sardonic chuckle after a long and pensive moment. “Hell, aren’t we all?” 

The troubled Awoken man – the dead awoken man – would have scoffed at that. Much like Cayde, he had this little issue with forgiving himself. 

Cayde stares down at his silent companion, reflecting on the man himself in a way he hasn’t bothered to in quite some time. 

“I would say I don’t know how you managed to find your way into our family at the Tower, but... I think we both know better. Pretty sure Kayleigh could bring in anyone from the cold.” 

She’d saved Cayde more times than he could count, and that was before he became Hunter Vanguard. 

“Never thought I’d see the day that she’d pick a fight she couldn’t win. Then again, never thought I would either.” He sighs, tilting his head back against the pillar. “You were supposed to kill me. Don’t think Mara ever told you that.” 

Uldren’s expression would twist uncomfortably at the notion, shocking both of them. 

“Of course, I’m not saying I would have gone without a fight, but you really had me cornered back in the prison. If it wasn’t for Kayleigh, I wouldn’t be alive. And if.... If it wasn’t for her, I don’t think you would have survived, either.” 

Yet, there he lies, dead anyway, because Cayde let himself relax. He let his guard down, assuming they would be safe. 

It’s like what happened with Andal all over again. 

Cayde curls his knees up to his chest, crossing his arms over them and resting his head. “Can you believe it’s been over three years since Riven? Seems like just yesterday I was letting Kayleigh patch up a hole in my chest.” 

The sky starts to darken, the suns of the Dreaming City starting to go down on the horizon. 

Cayde slides off of the stone slab, sighing. “I think that’s about all the time I’ve got for right now.” He glances back after walking only a few steps. “I’ll see ya’ later, buddy.” 

♤♤♤♤♤♤ 

Akaiya sits at the foot of Kayleigh’s bed, a coloring book resting on her knees and a colored pencil in her hands. Gentle arc energy flows over Akaiya’s skin, even though Kayleigh’s solar no longer glows warmly like it used to. She fell asleep in Kayleigh’s warm embraces more than once, and it’s disheartening to see her so cold comparatively. 

Blessed by the Traveler as she is now, she’ll never get to the point where cold will hurt her, but it doesn’t change the feeling. Two months, and not a thing has changed. 

At ten years old, Akaiya’s still a child. She tries to pretend she doesn’t see as much as she does, but she can tell that the older Guardians all fear for her. If her dad knew how much she saw, he might get a little overprotective. 

Somehow, Kayleigh always knew better. 

Kayleigh always saw how her eyes took in every detail and he she listened to conversations around her. She watched over Akaiya like a big sister would. It’s only fair that Akaiya watches over her now. 

It hurts sometimes to see Kayleigh so still. She’s right there, but Akaiya can’t help feeling lonely. As much as Cayde would rather it not be the case, she remembers before the Red War. She was lonely. During the event, everyone did their best to keep her occupied, but she remembers the fear of being alone. She remembers her mother coming home injured and hiding it from her. 

The war changed all that. Now, she gets to recall Shiro giving her his cloak. 

Most of all, she remembers Kayleigh and Cayde. Cayde, who cared for her and watched over her while Kayleigh protected the remaining Guardians. Kayleigh, who played games with her and tried her best to make everyone smile. 

She was only six then, but she’s ten now. Ten means she’s growing up. 

Ten means she gets to know things. 

Today, that doesn’t really matter. She just wants to spend time with her aunt Kayleigh without anyone to tell her she should be somewhere else. They don’t want seeing Kayleigh to depress her, which isn’t likely. Whatever ‘depressing’ means. Akaiya has been meaning to look it up, but it’s just one of those things that isn’t super important. 

It’s simpler not to question it, even curious a Hunter as she is. 

When she gets bored of coloring, she curls up next to Kayleigh to take a nap. It’s been a long day for her already, since her mom and dad had to go to work and she spent the morning with Shaxx. She adores Shaxx, but his zeal for action can tire out even the most energetic of children. 

No one has figured out where she and her Ghost have disappeared to yet, but it won’t take too long if they come looking. 

As much as she likes to play with the other children in the Tower, it didn’t take much for her to realize she wasn’t like them anymore. She was a Guardian, and that meant to human parents that she could be dangerous. They were hesitant to let her play with their children. She only gets the opportunity when Ikora is around to assure them that she’s fully capable of being gentle. 

It’s not like she hasn’t spent the last four years learning her own strength. It was easier when no one knew, and both Cayde and Hawthorne tried real hard to keep it under wraps. 

She snoozes along for quite some time, only waking as a gentle and gloved metal hand prods her awake. “Hey, sweetheart. Time to go home.” 

“I want to stay.” 

Cayde lets go of a soft breath at the look on her face, opening his arms to her as she sits up. “I know, baby, but holding on too tight to this place will only hurt you in the long run.” 

Akaiya glances at Kayleigh and then back to Cayde. The way he looks at her, so soft and so warm, stops her mild protest before it even leaves her small body. She climbs into his arms, wrapping her legs around his waist and allowing him to carry her. He picks up her coloring book and box of colored pencils, all the utensils in rainbow order and placed neatly inside. 

He supports her with his other arm, leaning his head against hers when he hears her start crying. 

“You okay, baby?” 

She sniffs, her small fingers curling into his cloak and gripping for all they’re worth. And like all children who have seen too much, she lies to protect herself. “M-mmhmm.” 

Cayde presses an Exo’s kiss to the side of her face, ever-mindful of her hair and his horn. “It’s gonna be okay, sweetheart. One day, they’ll both come home.” 

The idea is almost too much. “I-I want, I want them t-to come h... h-home now.” 

“We gotta be patient, kiddo. There’s nothin’ we can do for them besides that.” 

The keening sound that leaves Akaiya’s throat never fails to make Cayde feel raw. He carries her down to his quarters, the Hunter Vanguard’s home empty of anyone else. 

He’s tried hard not to liken it to the emptiness in all of them. 

It’s been a while since Cayde put Akaiya to bed, the girl always insisting that she’s getting to old, but this time Cayde gets away with it. He puts her down in her bed, wrapping her favorite blanket around her shoulders and carding gentle fingers through her hair. Traveler, he doesn’t know when it was that she wormed her way into his heart. 

He pushes her curly brown hair out of her face, smiling an Exo’s smile. “There. All snuggled in.” 

Her brown eyes gaze up at him, searching for something. For the first time in a long time, he doesn’t know what it is. Before everything happened, he thought he knew every expression she had, but now she’s someone new. Still his daughter. Still his little girl, but just a bit different. 

“Will you stay with me?” 

Cayde softens, taking her tiny hand when she offers it to him and sitting down on the side of the bed. “Always, kiddo.” 

Akaiya grins, leaning against Cayde’s side as he wraps his arm around her. “Love you, daddy.” 

“I love you too, baby.” 

♤♤♤♤♤♤ 

Ikora stares out over the edge of the Tower, the wooden railing beneath her hands feeling brittle and fragile. A heavy sigh leaves her body as she gazes upon the Traveler. 

“I don’t think you intended for this to happen.” 

She doesn’t expect a vision from the Traveler like she’d had after it woke, but she wishes she had some sort of explanation. She’s not sure exactly why she thinks it might have an answer for her, but it came through for her before. Of course.... It may have been that she was wondering what it would do with Kayleigh gone. It spoke to her a few times before, in its own way. 

A rough and calloused hand slips into hers. “Fear not, Ikora. I’m quite certain there is a plan in everything.” 

Ikora turns, surprise on her face. “Devrim. I thought you were still in the EDZ.” 

“You know me, Ikora. I couldn’t very well stay down there knowing you were up here stewing by yourself. Goodness knows you wouldn’t contact me unless the situation was truly dire.” He presses a kiss to her cheek. “You know you can always talk to me. I’ll always answer when you call.” 

“Dev-” 

“I’m serious, Ikora. Whenever you need.” 

She inclined her head just a little, offering him a smile. Having trained herself in restraint for too many long years, she can’t say how much it means to her. Instead, she merely gives his fingers a squeeze. 

“Come, my dear. You have been alone for much too long.” 

He leads her away from her post, gently putting his arm around her waist as she closes her eyes. With her leaning into him, he leads her down to a quiet place in the Annex where he has some tea stored up. 

“Sometimes, Ikora, you don’t need all the answers.” 

She sips her tea, humming as she takes Devrim’s hand and sits next to him. She leans on his shoulder, simply living in her first peaceable moment since the turmoil inside her began. 

“There is no easy answer to some things in life. Goodness knows it must be strange and concerning for you Guardians to be faced with something you can’t solve with a nova bomb or a golden gun, but that’s the truth of it.” 

“I know, Devrim. It’s just... difficult. We knew it would happen eventually.” 

Devrim’s brow furrows. “You knew?” 

“It was a _very_ long time ago. We.... We went to the temple on Io to stabilize Kayleigh, and we learned too much, and not enough from Malek. You’ve... met him, I think. He doesn’t advertise, but he is a high priest from the old days. The Collapse was recent then.” 

“He told you the Sov Prince would die?” 

Ikora shakes her head. “No. He told us only that Kayleigh was tied to a future Hunter. Kayleigh and Uldren found out that he was going to fall upon their second meeting. We conferred with them and we....” She looks down to the ground, squeezing her eyes shut and biting her lower lip. It’s the most vulnerable Devrim has ever seem her. “ _Uldren_ told us to let it go, and we did.” 

Devrim sighs, taking her teacup from her and putting it down. “I see.” 

“We could have done something.” 

“No.” 

Ikora would never say as much, but she had grown closer with Uldren in recent times. He had a quiet intelligence to him that Ikora could respect. She learned that he was a lover of books as she was. 

“It’s the truth.” 

Devrim quiets her as she sinks against him, her head falling under his chin. “If Kayleigh is tied to a Hunter, then Uldren’s death was inevitable. Death.... It is a part of all of us, Ikora. All Guardians were reminded of that very recently, but I need you to remember it. You told Kayleigh once, during the Red War, that you were afraid to lose your life.” 

“So?” 

“Good.” 

Ikora looks up at him and he thumbs tears away from her eyes. “I don’t want to be in fear for my life. Guardians are meant to be a beacon of hope, of light. Life, Devrim. I can’t just... let death shadow over all that.” 

“Oh, my dear, Ikora. You’re not. Life wouldn’t be so very precious if it didn’t end somewhere. It simply reminds us, reminds _you_ , that even as immortals, life is fleeting. It’s messy, it’s broken and there is blood spilt on every shore and in every haven. Uldren knew that, but he also knew something else.” He pauses, giving Ikora a little time to digest what he’s telling her. Devrim very much wants her to understand. “He knew that in order for change to take place, something had to be destroyed. In order for Kayleigh to know him as she was meant to, he would have to die.” 

“But why? Why when everything was going right?” 

Devrim presses a soft kiss to her temple, still kneeling with her in the seclusion of darkness. “Does it ever appear that bad things happen when worse things are already in motion? Nothing is ever going completely right. Nothing completely wrong.” 

Ikora smiles sadly. “Balance.” 

“Exactly.” 

“And to think I’ve been teaching my Warlocks that very thing without realizing.” 

She lets out a long breath, curling into Devrim’s side and letting him hold her. She once taught herself that there was no room for weakness. There was no need for fear if one was going to protect themselves or the people who couldn’t. 

She was wrong. 

Ikora never knew that it would be a comfort. 

♤♤♤♤♤♤ 

He's watching from the shadows, like something cursed. 

Traveler, how many years had Malek spent doing that? Everything that he’s kept to himself all these years, at least about current Guardians, had finally come to pass. A few unexpected twists and turns, like Andal’s death, had caught him off guard. Maybe he had tricked himself into hoping, but... somehow, it just didn’t seem like the truth. 

Tevis died. Lonely, lonely Tevis. Lonely and cold. There was something Cayde whispered to the Void that night, so much pain in his words that the Void held onto them. _Everybody dies alone._

Cayde cursed the Void for not protecting him. Cursed the Void for not saving him. 

All it did was make the Void stronger. It thrives on despair, and as one who hears it whispering in his ear, Malek knows why so many Void Hunters appear almost mad. Every Shadowshot cast in the wild screams with anguish. In the end, it isn’t the burning or even the life being sucked form their bones that kills them. It’s the fear. 

Cayde was supposed to die. 

That... was reasonably confusing. Mara had confirmed it when he’d asked her, which took a lot less cajoling than he thought it would. Apparently, Cayde had told her about him, and she was more than curious to see what she could glean from his mind. 

He’s pleased to say that the answer was nothing. Malek has been around long enough (longer than he’d planned) to know when an Awoken is trying to pry. 

He doesn’t need that kind of trouble. Too many secrets. 

Now, Uldren’s death? As much as he expected it, it was also an oddity. He can’t help but think that life was simpler before he met Kayleigh. Somehow, some way, he knows that she’s partially responsible for his confusion. Of course, Malek knows there is room for change. There is always room for things to not be as they seem. What kind of Hunter would he be if he didn’t know that? 

He wouldn’t tell Kayleigh when she found him in the temple that he knew who would kill Uldren. What he also didn’t tell her is that he was already supposed to be gone. Uldren surviving set a lot of things in motion that weren’t even supposed to be possible, and so a new death was created. 

If she wasn’t so powerful, Malek might think she was Lazill reborn. 

Many, many good things came out of Uldren’s life. The Fallen were able to rebuild, and the Tangled Shore became the stronghold for the House of Crows. The headquarters for Uldren’s spies is there now. Or rather, Mara’s spies. 

So much was lost when the younger Sov died. 

He’s not sure what all is meant to happen, but Uldren Sov is soon to return. He can’t tell what things are in store, for the future. That’s not his gift. He knows Hunters, and occasionally whens and hows of their existence. 

Now the how of it for Uldren is being truly reborn.


	2. Shadow's Past

Cayde looks up as Zavala joins him in the small room. The bed in front of them carefully holds one Kayleigh Sov. Uldren’s crows are all camped outside of her room. He’s certain they have things that they could be doing, but not one of them has shown any sign of leaving the infirmary today. It must be a designated vigil. Cayde can’t say he blames them. He’s in the room nearly every day as it is. 

“Still no change?” 

“None.” Cayde answers, keeping his voice low. 

“Do you think she will ever come back from this?” 

Cayde shrugs, running a hand over his face. “I don’t know. She’s the strongest person I’ve ever met, but this? This is a different kind of loss.” 

Zavala hums. “Do you suppose… she isn’t waking up because she doesn’t want to?” 

“Probably, but she also probably knows that she can’t hide from the truth forever. If that isn’t it, then maybe it’ll just take a long time to get her head on straight inside before coming back.” 

Zavala walks around the other side of the infirmary bed and sits down. “Never have I been prouder of a Guardian than this one. She fights to win, no matter the cost, and that is admirable.” 

“Kayleigh is more than admirable, Zav. She is the end-all be-all of Guardians. There are new guys out there telling horror stories about her.” 

“As well they should.” 

Cayde laughs, but the sound is unnaturally flat. He comes in here once a day if he can, if not more, but nothing changes. It scares him more than he’d like to admit. Orion, who Cayde has blocked out of his memories for a couple hundred years, comes to mind. As do Andal and Tevis. 

He doesn’t want to lose her, too. 

“I heard that Mara has temporarily taken the mantle of Kell for her brother?” 

“Yeah. Just until Kayleigh gets back on her feet.” _If she does_. 

“Who is going to take Kayleigh’s position?” 

Cayde appreciates his effort in not stating the ‘if’ of the situation. “Probably Aksis. She’s their most trusted Fallen warrior, and she has her Archon status to back her up.” 

“Zavala?” 

He looks up as Ikora enters the room. “Yes?” 

She walks a little further into the room, placing a hand on Cayde’s shoulder. “How is she?” 

Zavala shakes his head. “The same.” 

Ikora nods silently, leaning against the back of Cayde’s chair. She’s quiet for a long time before settling on something to ask. “How is Akaiya taking it?” 

“She’s… okay. She’ll be a bit better if Kayleigh wakes up, but…” Cayde shakes his head, much like Zavala had only moments before. “… she misses Uldren.” 

Ikora laughs a bit. “I never thought I would say this, but-” 

Cayde reaches a hand up to grip hers. “I know. We all do.” 

“And Hawthorne?” 

“She’s… she’s unusually quiet.” 

Zavala is about to answer when the temperature drops a little. Mara Sov walks through the door, regal as ever, but tired. She shows up once a week, as she is a very busy individual now. No one bothers her when she stops by, and the Vanguard are always more than happy to accommodate her. 

Mara stands beside the bed, her white hair shifting in front of her face as she leans over the silent Warlock. Her hands press to the sides of Kayleigh’s face and she closes her eyes, the startling white-blue disappearing under thick lashes. She murmurs a prayer before pulling away with a sigh. 

Cayde straightens a bit. “So?” 

“She knew I was there, but I didn’t get an answer.” 

Cayde shifts anxiously. “But she’s conscious o-or dreaming, at least? That means she’s doing better?” 

Mara hesitates before nodding. “Better, but it still isn’t good.” 

Her Ghost floats out. “But she’s there? She’s still… herself?” 

Mara’s brow lowers as she looks at the Ghost. “That remains to be seen. We’ll only know if she wakes up.” 

“Roughly the same prognosis, then.” Zavala says lowly. “I believe we can only hope that she remembers who she is when she does come around. Until then, we keep on hoping.” 

“And we’re certain that the Drifter is gone for good?” 

Mara confirms. “I killed his Ghost myself, if you remember. He is gone.” 

“That won’t comfort her, Cayde.” Ikora admonishes. “She can be vengeful, but she knows what’s important.” 

They decide to change the subject, tersely moving on to Vanguard business and filing reports. They discuss their important matters in the small room with Mara providing her input where she sees fit. Her opinions are welcome. Still, it takes a long while for them to slowly let Kayleigh fade to the back of their minds. 


	3. Pulled Pork

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, you know who I'm talking about. :)

6 Months Later

♤♤♤♤♤♤ 

A Ghost drifts along the outer reaches of the Dreaming City. It scans every rock and piece of debris in its path, being ever so thorough. He wonders briefly how many other Ghosts are still out searching for Guardians. The wandering Ghost passes by a group of Fallen, watching them closely. He has heard all about the alliance with the Fallen Houses, but he isn’t quite sure that he trusts them as of yet. Still, they don’t jump out to grab him, so he supposes there must be some credibility to the rumors. 

He catches a glimpse of the House sigil on the back of a Captain. “The House of Crows? But... their Kell, whoever he was, died.” 

A pair of Vandals follow him up to an old worship site, and the little Ghost gets the feeling that they’re escorting him. He explores the majority of the structures, scanning over objects that he can’t identify. 

“What is this place?” 

The bigger Vandal straightens. “Burial grounds.” 

The Ghost blinks. “You speak English?” 

“Was taught, by our Kell.” 

He tilts, drifting over the tombs of Awoken House members. “So, who is your Kell now?” 

“Sov, Mara.” 

“The Reef Queen? Why?” 

“Sister to our Kell.” 

The Ghost had heard chatter around about the House being protected by the Sov name, but he had no idea that one was actually in charge of the House itself. He’s been traveling too much to learn anything about the goings-on in the area. “Your Kell was Uldren Sov?” 

“Mmmm. Unified Eliksni Houses, lasting peace.” 

“Uldren, peaceful?” 

“His life-mate be Kell, when she wakes.” 

“Life-mate? You mean his wife?” 

“High Priestess. Sov, Kayleigh.” 

The Ghost’s circuits nearly spark with the knowledge that he married a Guardian. “Where is she?” 

“Guardian home.” 

“The Tower.” he whispers, scanning a fallen tree branch. “I hope she wakes up. Mara has too many responsibilities as it is. She’s been asserting her power across the planets for the last three years. Everyone thought she was dead.” 

The Ghost stops as it hovers over the newest addition to the burial site. “Who is this?” 

The Vandal chitters sadly. “Kell Sov, Uldren.” 

He feels a familiar pull from the body. “How long has he been here?” 

“Months.” 

“But… his body is still fresh.” 

“Kell Sov, Mara preserves him.” The Vandal pulls back the sheet to look upon his fallen Kell. 

The Ghost nears the corpse, bobbing a little in the air. “I finally found you. No wonder it took me so long. And trust me, Uldren, I looked everywhere.” 

The two Fallen chitter at him, not understanding. 

He expands, letting Light flow from him to the body resting before him. It bursts out and Uldren sits up. The sky grows dark and a white-hot bolt of lightning scares the Ghost as Uldren returns to life. The thunder is only a split second after. He shouts in surprise, hiding under a Fallen’s arm as the rain starts to pour from the sky. Uldren breathes with a startled wheeze, staring at his hands as they spark with electricity. 

The look in his eyes gives the Ghost cause to think that he’s not all there. He scrambles back, dropping to the ground and crawling to his feet. He screams, only making the two Fallen wary and the Ghost more shocked. 

The Vandal he had been speaking with glares at him. “What has the ball done?!” 

“I- I don’t know. He was supposed to come back just fine. This isn’t supposed to happen!” 

Rain pours down and the wind whips up, howling around them with Uldren’s cries. The Fallen break for cover, leaving the Ghost to chase after Uldren. It takes him a long while to catch up, Uldren running faster than he should be able to in his confused state. Lightning almost strikes the Ghost’s shell, but he doesn’t have time to worry about it. 

“Wait!” 

Uldren sees the Ghost following him and disappears around a corner. He does a scan for Uldren, finding his heat signature not far away. He flies around the entrance to the cave slowly. 

“Hello?” 

There’s a growl from the corner and the Ghost moseys inside with caution. 

“I’m not going to hurt you.” 

The Guardian curls on himself, shaking with fear and likely exhaustion. “K-Kayleigh.” 

“Do you… do you remember anything?” 

Uldren bares his teeth, squeezing his eyes shut. His breathing is erratic and the little Ghost isn’t quite sure what to do. He’s never seen a reaction like this. He tries to calm him down, but nothing works. 

“Do you know your name?” 

The question brings Uldren’s head up. He can’t confirm it, but it doesn’t look like he’s saying no. He hasn’t said a word other than Kayleigh’s name, and the Ghost wonders if he even knows who he’s talking about. Guardians aren’t supposed to go looking into their pasts, but in this case, Uldren might be the exception. His old life is only a few months from his mind. Maybe that’s why he’s so… messed up. 

“Kayleigh.” He whispers, his eyes pleading with the Ghost to help him. 

“You know who that is?” 

He hesitates, his eyes flicking down to the floor as he tries to remember. Uldren makes a fearful noise as thunder crashes down outside the cave. His resurrection brought the storm, but he seems too spacey to know anything about it. His hands crackle with electricity again and he presses against the wall, holding them out to the Ghost. 

Lightning strikes the ground and Uldren starts to hyperventilate. The Ghost presses against the side of his face to comfort him and he wraps careful fingers around the Ghost. Uldren isn’t completely sane, but in that moment, the little Light doesn’t care. His Guardian is in trouble. 

Against the rules that Zavala has laid down, the Ghost starts to tell him his past - as much as he knows anyway. “Your name was Uldren Sov.” 

He growls. “ _Is_.” 

“...That’s good. At least you know that much. Do you remember anything else?” 

His only answer is the name he’s been repeating. The Ghost debates over whether or not to tell him what she means to him. That information is likely a big part of his past. He doesn’t want to overstep Uldren’s limits, and that much information would surely shatter the small bit of clarity he has now. Traveling as he does, he isn’t sure he has all the facts anyway. 

The storm grows worse, the instability of the new Guardian on the ground stirring up the most awful weather the Ghost has ever seen. He’s never known of a Guardian so powerful except for.... 

No. That’s impossible. 

The Ghost doesn’t want to ask and set him off again. Even just talking to him while he’s like this is like walking through a field of landmines. Malfunctioning landmines, at that. 

“So, this Kayleigh you keep mentioning-” 

At the reminder, Uldren clutches his head a little tighter, curling in on himself as much as he possibly can. He bares his teeth at the Ghost, shoving him away as more lightning crashes outside. The Ghost goes silent, watching his Guardian with mild horror. Of all the things he expected to happen when he finally found his Guardian, him having a mental breakdown was not on the list. 

“Uldren.” 

This time, Uldren completely ignores him, jumping as more lightning flashes and electricity crackles over his skin. His breathing gets rougher and he doesn’t understand what’s going on. The Ghost presses closer again, trilling in an attempt to comfort the panicked man before him. 

The little Light has to resign itself to staying put. No distress signal would ever make it out of the storm. Maybe on the outer edge, but it’s spreading, and spreading fast. Their only hope is that someone is crazy enough to come looking for the source, and that’s not likely to happen. Maybe someone will report it to the Tower. 

Uldren stiffens as the Ghost’s hard shell nuzzles his face, thunder rumbling overhead. A crash loud enough to deafen normal people shakes the cave and the prince lets loose a strangled cry. Quieting him proves impossible, and the storm only appears to be getting worse. 

At this rate, the only way it’ll stop is if Uldren tires himself out. 

“Just... try to calm down, okay?” 

He clutches the Ghost again, his hands shaking just as hard as the rest of him. If the Ghost were in a joking mood, he might feel like a yo-yo with the way Uldren keeps acting around him. As it is, he’s too afraid for Uldren to be amused. 

_Please, Traveler. Send someone to get us out of this._


	4. Arc Burn

♤♤♤♤♤♤♤ 

Cayde wakes to a quiet chirping from his Ghost as Wash warns him of a notification. “What’s up, buddy?” 

“Incoming call from the Dreaming City.” 

“Mara?” 

“No. One of your scouts.” 

Cayde grumbles a bit. “This had better be good. I was in the middle of an excellent nap and it’s 3am.” He sits up straighter, stretching to wake up a little more. “All right, patch me in.” 

The voice is muffled, but Cayde can make it out. “ _Cayde!”_

“Whoa, whoa. Don’t tell me you’re panicking or something. This is not the time for that. You’ve gotta be able to tell me what’s going on before you start screaming like that.” 

“ _There_ _...._ _mother of all storms out here! Lightning is_ _..._ _uching_ _down everywhere! Ah!”_

Cayde snaps to his feet, heading for the door as he struggles his way into some armor. “Did you just get struck?” 

“ _Close enough!”_ his scout snaps, grunting as he jumps up a couple times. “ _It’s only getting worse, and it won’t be.... -fore I can’t_ _g-…...._ _ig_ _nal_ _out at ...l-I’m tryin_ _’_ _….-head of it, but-”_

The Hunter Vanguard taps at his comms when the connection fizzles out. He only catches a few words here and there before it all goes to static. He bolts for the landing bay to find Shiro, knowing that he was planning to spend a day in with Amanda. She’s up way too late most nights anyway. He’ll apologize later for the interruption, but he’s going to need all the help he can get. 

“Shiro, I need you to come with me.” 

He looks to Amanda, but she waves a hammer at him. “Go ahead. I wouldn’t want to keep you, and from the looks of Cayde, it’s important.” 

Cayde tips his head to her in gratitude. “Thanks, Am.” 

While he stalks towards the ships, he calls up to Ikora, letting her know that he’s about to fly to coop. (Heh. Chicken jokes. Colonel would approve.) She gives him docking privileges without a single question asked. He appreciates it. 

It doesn’t take as long as Cayde thinks to arrive on the cusp of the Dreaming City, but he can see why the comms cut out. Wash transmats them out of the ship and swings it away from the city the first chance he gets. They’ll need an escape route, which means that having the ship be struck by lightning is a terrible plan. 

Cayde and Shiro stand shoulder to shoulder, staring out at the storm. Cayde jumps as lightning touches down next to his boot, knocking into Shiro and sending them both tumbling down a rocky outcropping. 

Shiro glares for a moment, but he doesn’t mean it. “Ow.” 

“Sorry.” 

Both Hunters flinch as thunder crashes over their heads. There’s no question that the storm is directly above the entire city. Cayde climbs to his feet, dusting himself off as he hops back up to ground level. Shiro turns his face in towards the edge of his hood, rocks stirring up in the hastening winds. 

“Oh, Traveler. What do you think is causing this?” 

Cayde reaches out to touch a place where lightning struck recently. Looking around, he realizes that the ground is spider-webbed with light spots. “I don’t know, but it’s gotta be something big.” 

Shiro shakes his head. “So, nothing good then.” 

“Wash, see if you can locate where my scout’s signal was coming from.” 

“Of course.” 

Wash tries, bless his shell, but he doesn’t have any success. “Last coordinates have him, or his Ghost, just over the ridge where Petra hands out assignments, but the signal is completely gone.” 

Cayde summons his sparrow, zipping past lightning strikes as well as possible. Shiro follows. They dismount, searching for the lost Hunter even as thunder shakes rocks loose from above their heads. 

“Wash, any readings?” 

“None.” 

Cayde peers over the edge, noting that the mist that usually covers the rocks below is gone. “I think someone’s down there.” 

Shiro crawls to the edge, peering over. “Where?” 

“Right next to the rock face. Looks like he’s trying to climb it, but there aren’t any handholds.” 

Humming a little, Shiro’s brow plate lowers. “He’s only climbing with one arm.” 

Cayde skitters down as far as he can, stopping when he can’t find anywhere else to step. Try as he might, there just doesn’t seem to be an option of going farther without falling the rest of the way. “Hey! Up here!” 

Shiro joins Cayde, nearly sliding over the edge before Cayde steadies him. “Ander!” 

The Hunter below stops, peering up at them. He’s still a good seventy feet down.“Cayde?” 

“Yep. Came as soon as your message cut out. How did you end up all the way down there?” 

Ander makes another attempt to climb, feet scrabbling uselessly at the smooth rock. “I kinda... sorta... jumped over the edge. I was trying to dodge the lightning. Now my arm is broken and my Ghost is buried under the rubble up there. I was trying to rescue her when I was talking to you. She only just patched me through because of the interference.” 

“That’s why you sounded all muffled?” 

“Yeah. I... didn’t think you’d come yourself.” 

Shiro makes a noise, clearly seeing something that Cayde isn’t as they look down at the Hunter. “You’re sure it’s just your arm?” 

Ander doesn’t answer. Hunters. Always so touchy about weakness and whatever. Not that Cayde knows from experience or anything. 

Cayde grumbles under his breath. Just once, he’d like to see someone with more common sense than a doorknob. “Just wait for us to find you a way up. You’ll only hurt yourself more trying to do this on your own.” 

Doing a little impromptu rock climbing is better than Ander banging himself up anymore. 

It takes both of them to get him to the surface and he stumbles to the rocks where his Ghost must be. Cayde and Shiro do the heavy lifting, ignoring the storm even as Ander backs away from the rock formations. They manage to make a hole big enough for the Ghost and she zips towards her Guardian to heal him. 

“You take your Ghost and you get out of here.” 

Ander nods, fleeing as fast as his sparrow with carry him. 

“Wash. Point us to the center of the storm.” 

Wash chirps nervously. “I don’t think that’s a-” 

“Just do it.” 

Suffice it to say, Cayde is the first to get struck by lightning. Thunder cracks the air around them and Cayde crumples where he stands. Shiro picks him up by the shoulders, hefting him up and carrying him while Wash does what he can. 

“Talk about fried circuits. It’s a mess in his head.” 

“Just fix it. I’ll find us some shelter.” 

They never get that far, but Wash does manage to get Cayde to come around. He drags Shiro the rest of the way, entering a dark cave with the dead weight that is his friend. 

“We’ve reached the center.” Wash says. 

Cayde’s brow furrows. “We’re inside.” 

Wash moves in the Ghost equivalent of a shrug. “Doesn’t change what the readings say. Who knows? Eye of the storm could be more than just a turn of phrase for lightning storms too, not just hurricanes.” 

“ _By the Traveler.”_

Cayde lifts his head, spotting the small Ghost floating towards him. “Who’re you?” 

The Ghost glances back at a dark shape in the corner before spinning his rotors. He motions for Cayde to come closer, so he does. “I’m the Ghost of Uldren Sov.” 

Cayde’s mouth drops open. He stares for a long moment, glancing at Shiro before blinking at the Ghost. “Come again?” 

The Ghost sighs. “Uldren Sov? Newly resurrected?” 

“I’m sorry, but you mean our Uldren Sov? For real?” 

“Yes! That’s exactly what I mean.” 

Cayde’s brow lowers and he peers past the Ghost to the Guardian huddled in the shadows. He can’t see his face, but there’s something familiar about him. “That him?” 

The Ghost makes a helpless sound. “Sort of.” 

Shiro scratches his head. “That doesn’t make any sense. Either he is or he isn’t.” 

“He’s not all there. I can’t tell what he remembers.” 

Cayde creeps closer, crouching low to avoid appearing like a threat. “What do you mean? If he’s a Guardian, he’s not supposed to remember anything.” 

“He does.” 

“Like what?” 

The Ghost nudges his Guardian’s shoulder, but he’s despondent. “Like I said, I really can’t tell. He knows his own name, and Kayleigh’s, but other than that, he hasn’t said anything.” 

Cayde lifts a hand to touch him, soft Arc energy crackling against his palm as he gets close. It’s so much like what Andal used to do that it breaks his robotic heart a little. It means Cayde isn’t a threat. The only reason Cayde gets snapped is because thunder crashes directly above them. 

“Ow!” Shiro tries to pull him back, but Cayde waves him off. “It’s okay. I don’t think he meant to.” 

“Just because he didn’t mean it doesn’t mean he can’t accidentally kill you.” 

“ _Accidentally killing me._ ” Cayde murmurs. This whole thing feels far too familiar. “Shiro, this is the same exact scenario. He can’t control it. This storm, the instability. It’s all him, and it’s exactly the same! It’s the same.” 

“What are you talking about?” 

“Don’t you remember? Kayleigh was like this.” Cayde reaches out to put a hand on Uldren’s shoulder. The other man flinches, but after a tense moment, he allows himself to relax. 

Shiro stares for a moment. “I think Kayleigh was a little more coherent than this.” 

“Kayleigh didn’t have someone else’s mind attached to hers back then. Uldren does. She’s alive, and he can probably tell that something is wrong. Something is missing; he just doesn’t know what.” 

Shiro sighs. “This is nuts.” 

“This makes sense.” 

Uldren’s Ghost watches them with one curious blue eye. It’s clear that the poor thing is a little confused, but it’s not a shock. This is a lot to process. 

Cayde reaches into the protective space of Uldren’s arms, lifting his chin to see if he’s awake. “Hey.” 

He opens his eyes, looking miserable. There are muddy tear tracks down his cheeks and his usually-alert eyes are surprisingly unfocused. Uldren says nothing, but it’s definitely him. 

“My name is Cayde-6.” 

A flicker of recognition. 

“That guy back there is my buddy Shiro. We’re here to help you out.” 

Uldren blinks uncomprehendingly, flinching again as lightning strikes just outside the mouth of the cave. Cayde jumps as he gets shocked again and Uldren’s expression turns panicked. The thunder gets louder, which in turn makes Uldren even more twitchy. 

“No, no, no. It’s okay, I’m fine. Just stay calm, all right?” 

He doesn’t look convinced. 

Cayde sits down in front of him, shaking his head. “I almost can’t believe it, buddy.” 

Those too-intelligent eyes focus on him fully now, which is almost kind of worse than before. 

“Yes, we were friends before all... this.” 

Uldren leans, tucking his chin behind his arm. He blinks once, still staring at him with those creepy golden eyes. If Cayde isn’t mistaken, he’s relaxing. He’s still tense, and the storm outside isn’t dying down, but at least he’s more emotionally stable. 

He’s also waiting. 

Cayde would swallow if he could. Uldren is waiting for him to explain his statement. “You... married one of my best friends.” 

The words are lost on him. He doesn’t get it. 

“You and my friend Kayleigh-” 

Uldren flinches. 

“You share a bond.” 

He doesn’t get that either, but at least Cayde knows he remembers at least one thing. The Ghost told him as much, but it’s nice to have it confirmed from the source. 

“Actually, uh, you tried to kill me.” 

Shiro slaps the back of his head when Uldren’s face twists. “Really? That’s what you choose to tell him?” 

Cayde turns, not having realized that Shiro was sitting so close behind him. “What? We’re friends now. I just figured I’d make it clear how far we’ve come.” 

A sound from Uldren gets their attention. His face betrays nothing, but Cayde realizes that the noise was some semblance of laughter. If Uldren can appreciate irony, then maybe there’s more of him in there than his Ghost thinks. 

“Anyways, that little incident really isn’t important. The point is... well, we’re gonna take good care of you.” 

The storm outside brings down a tree as if to punctuate how impossible that is at the moment. 

Cayde winces. “We’ll figure something out?” Rocks from the roof of the cavern fall on his head and Cayde sighs heavily. “Right. It’ll have to wait until after all this is over.” 

Uldren’s brow wrinkles and he buries his head again. As if on cue, the wind howls harder. 

The Ghost in Reef colors sinks a little. “This is hopeless.” 

Cayde scowls, flicking it away. “Did you really just say that right in front of him? What is wrong with you?” 

The Ghost lowers his voice, but not to a helpful level. He doesn’t seem to understand the very real problem with what he’s saying. “I’m sorry, but... he’s not exactly what one would call fully functional.” 

Uldren curls on himself, hiding as well as he can. 

Cayde glares. “Could you shut up?” 

“Cayde-” 

“Don’t ‘Cayde’ me. I get enough of that from Zavala. This is your Guardian, and you’re supposed to help him, not tell him that he’s a hopeless case. Sure, you didn’t get to choose him, but he didn’t choose you either. Case and point: Zip the lips.” 

“I don’t have-” 

“Ah, ah! Shut up!” 

The Ghost fumes a little, but he calms. He turns towards Uldren and tilts a little forward. Cayde recognizes the action as the Ghost softening a little. “I’m just...” 

_If you say disappointed, so help me-_

“Afraid for him.” 

The last part is finally murmured low enough that Uldren can’t hear. Cayde shifts, drawing Uldren’s attention back from his knees. He watches the Hunter Vanguard with critical eyes as he sits down next to him. He leans away, but at least he doesn’t seem nervous. 

“Don’t worry. We’ll figure this out.” 

Uldren doesn’t respond. Cayde is getting the impression that Uldren has gone mute, which isn’t really a good sign. On the upside, he’s sort of stable. Shiro moves away to stand guard at the mouth of the cave even though he knows that no one is coming. He understands that it’s going to be a quiet moment between the two. 

“So, about Kayleigh....” 

Uldren grimaces, rubbing at his temple. The memories he can’t reach have to be frustrating him beyond measure. 

“Here’s the thing. She’s kind of... sort of... in a coma. We don’t know if she’ll wake up, but she’s been that way since you died six months ago.” 

Uldren’s lips form a thin line. 

“You’re... supposed to be able to feel each other, I guess. To communicate, but I don’t know what she’s doing now. She’s... lost.” 

His quiet companion pinches the bridge of his nose, sighing as he presses a finger to the side of his head. Uldren’s hands move to illustrate something that he can’t express. Cayde kind of gets the gist. That is, of course, if the idea is that his head is empty. 

Cayde raises a brow. “So, you can play charades pretty well? Great.” 

Uldren tilts his head, rapping his knuckles against the stone wall behind them.. 

“It’s... what? Rock? Stone?” 

The knocks get more purposeful, but all that tells him is that he needs to keep guessing. 

“It’s... hard?” 

Uldren nods. 

“Why?” 

He makes a vivid hand gesture, energy swirling in his fist. Cayde leans away a little when the shocks mimic the storm outside, Uldren jumping away from them to no advantage. 

Cayde considers his movements carefully. “You mean the storm? Well... I hate to tell you this, but you’re the one causing the storm. You can’t control your Arc energy.” 

“Not.” Uldren mutters, lowering his head again and groaning as he tugs at his hair. “ _Noise.”_

_Well, it’s better than fully mute._ It’s gotta be something involving his head with the way he’s acting. “You mean, the place where Kayleigh would usually be is... loud?” 

Uldren shakes his head, his breaths picking up with the storm outside. Cayde tries to steady him, but he receives yet another set of shocks for his trouble. He twists away from him, crouching just in front of his knees. 

“No, no, no. Come on, Uldren. You’ve gotta stay with me.” 

He clutches at his chest, each inhale and exhale closer to a wheeze than the last. Cayde isn’t quite sure what to do outside of the sparse instruction Wash is able to give him. 

Shiro watches from afar, trying not to let the crashing outside make him nervous. It’ll only make things worse if Uldren senses his unease. 

“Uldren, buddy. Just breathe, all right?” 

His chest only tightens at the idea, tears pricking his eyes. The ground shakes under his feet with the next clap of thunder, the impact jarring enough to knock Cayde off his feet. It’s only then that Cayde realizes what Uldren means. 

The void in Uldren’s mind is screaming at him. It’s so quiet in the emptiness that it’s literally drowning out everything else. 

No wonder he can’t think straight. 

“ _Talk_.” Uldren chokes out. 

Cayde blinks. “Me? You want me to talk? That’s weird. Usually, you’re the one giving me that look that says ‘Shut your mouth, or else’.” 

As Uldren’s glare, Cayde coughs. 

“Right. Yeah, sure. What do I even say? Oh, um... you’re the Kell of the House of Crows, which with no context probably makes as much sense as you coming back from the dead. Anyway, you and Kayleigh united the Fallen ketches, and let me tell you, that got a bit interesting here and there. I mean, those guys had been split up for years. A little _dicey_ with the House of Devils, too. Oofta. Like, for real? The Fallen Houses were never supposed to be able to unite under one banner ever again.” 

Cayde keeps chattering on until Uldren is relatively calm again, continuing pointless banter with himself because Uldren can’t really speak. Cayde is hoping that Uldren tires himself out at this rate. At least he can’t keep up the storm stuff is he’s unconscious. 

“Hey, um... this is me supposing that you’re tired, but do you think you could fall asleep?” 

A head shake. 

Shiro huffs from the cave entrance. “You’d have better luck with a chokehold.” 

Uldren doesn’t like the idea, burrowing closer to himself to block off any attempts. Cayde pats his shoulder, quietly reassuring him that he wouldn’t do that without express permission. 

Arc energy crackles with warning under his palm, but it’s soft enough that Cayde knows he understands. 

“It’s okay. Usually, we ignore Shiro’s plans anyway.” 

Shiro huffs out a laugh, mocking him under his breath from the entrance of the cave. 

Cayde sits once again, this time in front of him where he can keep a closer eye on Uldren. His Ghost still hovers nearby, seeming impassive. Much like Uldren, it seems that his Ghost’s way of managing fear and stress is to simply shut down. 

Fantastic. Now, there’s two of them. 

At least he has half a chance of staying sane now that Cayde and Shiro are around. He has something to focus on. If not that, then there’s always the chance he’ll just pass out from exhaustion. If his Ghost doesn’t get involved, that’s a possibility. 

After that, well... best chance they have is to get him home to the Cosmodrome. It’s the nearest place to the Tower that would be safe for him to stay. The whole area was quarantined by Zavala, and any destruction that might occur could only benefit the place, really. 

Crappy as the situation may be, Cayde is determined to see it through. For Uldren, but also for Kayleigh. If there’s a chance under the Traveler that he can help her, he’ll take it. 


	5. Phoenix

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *trips over the edge of the carpet as I announce the end of intermission* Hi. This chapter was a beast, but I hope you enjoy it. :)

Ikora sits quietly in Kayleigh’s room, paging through an old novel Kayleigh said she wanted to read. There is an element of doing so that makes it painful, knowing that Kayleigh may never get the chance. She’s also been monitoring for any changes to her condition since Cayde left days ago, hoping that whatever he’s doing out there has something to do with their current situation. 

The Warlock Vanguard looks up at her charge, just checking on her despite the odds of any change taking place. What she finds makes her blood run cold. 

“ _Oh, Traveler._ ” 

♤♤♤♤♤♤♤ 

By Cayde’s calculation, it’s been about five days since they found Uldren. They haven’t been able to get out of the cave even if said Guardian is more stable than he’s been in hours. He’s getting flashes now even if he doesn’t really understand why. 

The worst part is the nightmares. 

It turns out their assumption that the storm would die off while he was asleep was very wrong. He screams in the dead of night for Kayleigh and begs the Darkness to have mercy. Cayde has successfully managed to wake him up without getting himself killed thus far, but it’s getting worse. Uldren never remembers what the dreams are about, which can only be considered a good thing. 

Shiro is gone, having ventured out into the storm a day ago to see if he could find somewhere he could get a signal out. 

“Cayde?” 

The Exo’s gaze snaps to Uldren’s. He’s fairly certain it’s the first time the man has acknowledged him by name in the last five days. What’s even stranger is seeing him up on his feet by the back wall, leaning there almost casually. Some things haven’t changed. 

“What’s up, buddy? Are you good?” 

“I’m... curious.” 

“About?” 

He rubs his head, trying to come up with the right words. Uldren is oddly coherent now, so there’s a fair chance they won’t have to play charades. “I’ve been... trying to figure out why I tried to kill you.” 

“That’s, uh, a bit complicated.” 

Uldren makes a face, thunder crashing outside the mouth of the cave. He opens a hand flowing with Arc. “ _This_ is complicated. Whatever happened.... It can’t be near as bad.” 

Cayde clears his robotic throat. “Well, technically it starts way back during the fight against the Dreadnaught. The Awoken took the first crack at it because they showed up on your doorstep. Queen Mara, your sister, and her techeuns tried to destroy it with their power.” 

Uldren bows his shoulders inwards, dragging a hand through his hair. “Why can’t I remember? I’ve been trying, but I just....” He swallows, shaking his head. “I just don’t know.” 

“Well, as a Guardian, you’re really not supposed to remember anything. Most of us have no memories of our previous lives and those who do generally struggle to keep their focus on the present. The difference between you and them is that your death was very, _very_ recent.” 

The Reef prince grimaces, rubbing his brow. “No, wait.... Wait, wait. I was-…. I was there, at the battle.” 

“Yeah.” 

“That’s all I’ve got, though. It’s....” Uldren pauses. ”It’s just an image” 

Cayde wonders what exactly Uldren wants him to say. He could tell him everything he knows, which is a lot of information. He isn’t quite sure what it would do to Uldren either, and he’s not exactly anxious to find out. 

The look the Awoken man shoots him is desperate. “Please, just tell me what happened.” 

“Look, as much as you’ve improved miraculously in the last few hours, you’re still not all together up here.” Cayde taps his brow. “I don’t want to accidentally damage your calm and send you into a fit or something.” 

“I have it under control.” Uldren grits out. 

“If you really had it under control, we wouldn’t still be stuck in this storm.” 

Uldren looks mildly offended. 

Just as he’s about to object to Cayde’s excuse, Cayde hears something out in the dark. He shushes Uldren, only making his offended expression stronger. He heads to the mouth of the cave, asking Wash to shed a little light on the situation. It's hard to pick anything out through the sheets of rain racing past the entrance.

Cayde almost pulls his gun on whatever’s out there when Shiro tumbles inside. “Oh, thank the Traveler. I thought I was gonna have to shoot you for a sec.” 

“I would much rather you didn’t.” 

“Yeah. I can imagine.” Cayde chuckles. “So? The signal?” 

Shiro makes a noise. “There was a little bit of an issue. I climbed to the top of the Watchtower to see if I could get above the storm, but I couldn’t. That being said, while I couldn’t get a signal out, Deluca was able to pick up some frequencies bouncing through the cloud cover.” 

“It’s better than nothing. What were they saying?” 

The yellow Exo glances towards Uldren, pausing for a second. “You’re on your feet.” He mutters to himself a bit, moving their conversation closer to Uldren for his sake. “With what I managed to decipher, that actually fits.” 

Cayde makes an impatient sound. 

“I had to sift through it because of all the interference and there was a lot of white noise, but the general message? ‘Phoenix is gone.’” 

Uldren’s brow furrows. “Phoenix?” 

Cayde nods, a small affirming hum leaving his voicebox. “That’s the name Zavala picked for Kayleigh just in case something changed and we weren’t around. Of course, I’m pretty sure he came up with it years ago so he could put it in off the books missions. She went on quite a few of those before she met you.” 

The Reef prince mutters something that sounds a lot like ‘not for years’ under his breath. 

Shiro scratches his neck. “Although, I’m not quite sure what they mean by gone.” 

Cayde pats his back. “Don’t worry. If they meant she was dead, they would have said so. Them using Phoenix is also a good sign mostly because we generally only use the codenames for people who are still in play.” 

Looking at Uldren, the yellow and orange Exo scout offers him a smile. “I can almost guarantee that’s why you’re feeling better. If she’s up and around, she’s probably just as confused as you are.” 

Uldren paces around, seemingly agitated. Neither of the other two Hunters in the cave want to put him off-balance, so they leave him be while he thinks. Clearly, he’s got something on his mind that he’s mulling over and it might be helpful in the long run. At the moment, Cayde knows her better than anyone, but Uldren has been in her head. 

_What if we can’t find her?_

Both Cayde and Shiro look up. They’re both quite certain Uldren didn’t say anything out loud. If he’s projecting hard enough to reach Exo brains, something is going seriously wrong. 

Cayde glances towards the entrance of the cave as the wind howls faster. Lighting cracks the sky with burning light. He puts a hand on Uldren’s shoulder, stopping him in his tracks. “Calm down, buddy. You’re overthinking this. There ain’t a thing in the ‘verse that can kill Kayleigh, even if she is half out of her mind. She’s been that way before and killed the majority of us at least once.” 

“Not according to you.” Uldren grumbles. “According to you, technically _I_ almost killed her.” 

“That’s not your fault.” 

“Of course it is!” he shouts, sweeping his unruly hair to one side and looking more like himself than he has in days. “Oh, stars. Where the hell would she even go?” 

Shiro lifts a mechanical brow. “This is a lot of stress over someone you don’t remember.” 

Uldren turns away, scoffing lightly at him. “She’s important. I don't have to remember her to know she is.” He turns to glare at Shiro very suddenly, those golden eyes glowing dangerously. “You know damn well what she means to me, and I’m not going to let that piece of chiton Drifter have the last word!” 

Cayde cheerfully notes that he didn’t say ‘what she’s _supposed_ to mean’, but rather specifically that she does. He’s also definitely not going to push on the memory Uldren is caught on. 

Shiro winces as rocks start falling from the top of the cave. “Yeah, I get it, I swear. If you could just calm down -” 

“Where would she go? Where would she go for answers, even unconsciously?” He starts pacing again, shrugging away Cayde’s hand. “Traveler, if you two know her at all, where is she?” 

Shiro snaps his fingers. “What about Io? It’s where she found out about all this happening in the first place. She wouldn’t remember, but it had to have made an impression.” 

Cayde shakes his head. “No. That’s not it.” He circles his hands, trying to think.

The Reef prince swallows, backing up against the wall and sinking down to the ground. Cayde snaps out of his thoughts as he realizes Uldren is deteriorating again, approaching him with careful hands. The Awoken Guardian makes a helpless kind of noise, a keening note drawing from his throat. It does not bode well for any of their sense of calm.

With nothing else he can do, he slaps Uldren hard on the cheek. “Damn it, Uldren. Stay in the now!” 

His breath stops in his chest and his eyes flick up to Cayde’s. “I am in the now. I’m in the now and Kayleigh is lost! Kayleigh could be almost anywhere because she doesn’t even know herself!” 

Cayde is about to answer when he’s struck by an idea. He crouches in front of Uldren. “But you do. You and Kayleigh are still connected to each other.” 

“I told you! There is nothing in here but her name a-and flashes. Flashes and I don’t know what they mean!” 

“Uldren, I need you to take a breath. You’ve been fighting the void in your head, but you need to listen to it.” 

Uldren shakes in his spot on the ground, looking to Shiro in an attempt to gain support for the opposite action. Shiro offers him none. “You should try it. It’s worth a shot.” 

“What if I lose control? I c-can’t.... I don’t want to lose my mind to the dark again, and I don’t want to hurt you!” 

“If you lose control, you lose control. Kayleigh won’t let you fall, and we’re Guardians, buddy. We’ll come back. You won’t have to worry about killing us by accident, trust me.” Cayde offers him an Exo’s smile. “Kayleigh isn’t looking for herself out there, she’s looking for _you_. You have to open your mind to her, otherwise neither of you will come home.” 

Uldren chokes on a sob, earth-shaking thunder causing large chunks of rock to fall. “I can’t. I can’t. _What if it destroys me? What if **she** destroys me? What if -” _

Cayde squeezes Uldren’s shoulder, tilting his head. “The last thing Kayleigh would ever do is hurt you in a way she can’t heal.” 

Weak with desperation now, Uldren weeps. He closes his eyes, fighting every impulse he has that tells him not to do this as he retreats into his own head. Shaking, he stands in his mind’s eye. The stained-glass panes of memories are broken all around him, light filtering in without a source. The obsidian floor under his feet is cracked, a pitch chasm howling with wind just ahead. The abyss of his and Kayleigh’s shared memory yawns before him. One step and he’ll be falling forever. 

Steeling himself despite the dread in his heart, he stares into the emptiness and calls out for his soul. “Kayleigh!” 

The void shifts, roiling around him. Uldren flinches away as it arches above him, falling to his back. He reaches out a defensive hand, knowing he’s completely at its mercy. The darkness stops. He wonders if it expects him to beg for mercy. It took him days to push the blackness away and now here he is, standing back on the precipice of insanity.

“ _Please."_ He whispers, tears streaming down his cheeks. 

The tendril inches closer. 

“ _Kayleigh, please, I’m right here.”_

Uldren can do nothing else, begging the screaming silence to answer him. His outstretched hand shifts, his shaking fingers almost touching the tendril. It seems surprised by his sobs – surprised by his terror. 

Finally, they touch. 

The black void before him shifts vividly into fiery reds and oranges, the tendril shaping into fingers as it takes his own. Warmth kisses his hand, blooming across the space. 

_Uldren._

He stands, his fingers remaining twined with hers. “Kayleigh?” 

_I.... I know you._

Uldren nods, fluttering breaths leaving his chest as he looks away. Her hand tightens in his and a being borne of fire appears before him. It’s not her face, not really, but the Light is the same. “I know you.” 

_You were lost to me._

"I was, but now I need you."

_I'm here with you._

“No, Kayleigh, in the real world. Where are you?” he whispers. “ _Please, where are you?_ ” 

Kayleigh doesn’t answer for a long while, her consciousness receding as though distracted. He almost panics, fearing that he’s going to lose her again. He can’t do it again. Uldren has to get her attention, but he isn't sure how. Maybe, if they're connected as Cayde says they are, all he has to do is ask.

“Kayleigh?” 

_I don't know. It's peaceful here. Like a sea of glass._

Kayleigh's attention returns to Uldren and she floats down towards him. Uldren doesn't want to lose contact and he begs her not to let him go. He can feel Kayleigh smiling, her hands tracing the lines of his expression as she brushes his tears from his cheeks. Uldren lifts his hand to her in return, barely touching her face for fear she might not be real. She kisses his forehead, her touch soft and sure.

Everything around him goes white and he loses consciousness. 


	6. Beginning at the End

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it's kinda short for the wait. I hope you guys like it. :)

Uldren comes around with a rough gasp, stirring with a jolt. 

“ _Ah!”_

Surprised by the Awoken man’s sudden movement, Cayde leaps backwards into Shiro. Shiro stumbles, catching himself and turning to glare at Cayde. “Jumpy much? No one said you had to sit so close.” 

Cayde ignores him. “Uldren? You good, buddy?” 

Panting, Uldren manages a weak nod. “What... what happened?” 

“Well, you’d have to tell us the answer to that. Our end, you just went all quiet an’ stiff and then you passed out. You had us worried there for quite a while.” 

Uldren’s brow furrows as he takes the hand Cayde offers him. “How long is a while?” 

Shiro shrugs. “A few hours. It wasn’t anything near as bad as the first few days here, but we definitely weren’t expecting it. On the upside, the storm died off a little bit after you went under. We’d have been out of here by now if your Ghost hadn’t told us we should leave you be. Supposedly, moving you would have been more trouble than it was worth.” 

Cayde huffs out a laugh before becoming serious again. “So, I’d assume you talked to her?” 

“Yes.” 

“And?” 

Uldren runs a hand through his hair, trying to clear the fuzziness in his head. “She knew me.” A long sigh escapes his throat as he remembers the rest of their conversation. He can still feel her warmth in his mind, but... empty, in a way. “Kayleigh doesn’t know where she is. She.... She described it as a sea of glass.” 

Cayde claps once, pumping a fist. “Well, I’ve got some good news for you, buddy. I know a place exactly like that. Are you ready to get out of here?” 

Shiro doesn’t give him a chance to answer, giving his shoulder a hardy pat. “I know I am. Let’s move.” 

The first step Cayde takes outside the cave has him up to his shins in mud. “Wellll.... That’s gross. Sparrows?” 

“Definitely.” 

Uldren’s brow furrows. “What’s a sparrow?” 

“Right, right, right. Wash, can you grab a spare from inventory? We’ll show him the ropes en route to a good spot to bring the jumpship down. He’s a Hunter, so it should be a short lesson.” 

Cayde is right, it turns out, but then again.... He’s been right about a lot of things. 

Shiro sighs with relief when he sees the jumpship swooping in overhead. “Finally. No offense, Uldren, but I’m ready to get out of here. We’ve spent too long in one place for me to be in any way comfortable.” 

Uldren nods once, understanding. 

The three of them load up, leaving the dreaming City behind them. It wasn’t so long ago that Kayleigh and Uldren closed the place off to exploring Guardians, the majority of them poking around where they shouldn’t. Cayde almost misses the days where this place wasn’t marred by the destruction of Riven. Almost. 

The flight to earth isn’t a long one, but it’s certainly tense. Uldren prowls in the back of the ship. Shiro watches him with an air of suspense. He’s been cautious around Uldren, not knowing if he’ll become unstable again. 

Out in space? 

Yeah, Cayde can see where that would be a problem. 

Whatever Shiro thinks is about to happen is making him jittery. Cayde wonders if the feeling is contagious as he starts tapping his index and middle fingers against his thigh. Between the two of them, if they have to subdue Uldren or kill him, they should be able to keep things under control if need be. 

“Does this thing go any faster?” Uldren growls. 

“We’re almost there. Just hold your horses, buddy. I know you’re in a hurry, but you gotta be patient.” 

Uldren grumbles under his breath, a spark of irritation traveling through him. He takes a calming breath, dragging shaky fingers through his hair. He scowls as it gets staticky, flying everywhere. His hands glow with Light. He’d never say it, but he fears losing control more than anything else right now. He finally has a path to follow after days of constant confusion. 

Having a moment would ruin everything. 

He feels Shiro’s eyes on his back, even if the Exo believes he’s being subtle. Uldren is fully aware the man doesn’t trust him – not the way he is. He isn’t sure if their wariness helps him or just makes the struggle worse. 

“ _Stability.”_ Kayleigh whispers, her voice almost ghostly in his ear. 

Uldren breathes. 

A memory comes to him. A different woman, a darker murmuring. _Free me._

He shivers, shaking the memory away. The only person he wants in his head is Kayleigh. Whatever the disturbing caress in the back of his mind was, Uldren wants nothing to do with it. 

“Uldren.” 

His head snaps up. “Yes?” 

“We’re here. Just... take it slow. We don’t know what she remembers, or even if this will fix everything going on in your head. There are no guarantees here.” 

“I understand.” 

They exit the ship, stepping onto hard ground. Uldren stares down at his feet, sliding his foot across the dusty ground and revealing glass. Cayde chuckles, his gloved fingers twiddling with the handle of his knife as he steps forward. The Exo’s smile on his face lasts until he remembers the very ground he’s standing on was part of the last few adventures they had with Andal. 

Andal was missing up until a few hours previous. “Searching for the Vanguard.” That had been his excuse. 

Well.... They definitely found them. Cayde only wonders what Malek would have to say about this whole mess. How many details about Kayleigh and Uldren had he kept to himself over the years? He isn’t all-knowing – said so himself – but he always knew more than he was telling them. 

“Kayleigh?” 

Lost in thought, Cayde startles. 

They spend a less than a minute looking for her, the Warlock right where she’d been when she and Cayde met for the first time. Peacefully, anyway. The real first time, she accidentally killed him. 

Uldren stands in complete and utter silence, waiting for her to say something. He can’t start. What would he say? 

Cayde sits down next to her, crossing his arms over his knees. “Heya, stranger.” 

“Or something like that.” 

Well.... This is going to be awkward.

“So, uh.... What do you remember?” 

Kayleigh shrugs, tilting her head a little. Her silence – maybe indifference – is disheartening. Her history with Cayde is long, and for that to simply disappear is a knife in the guts. “Not much. Ever since we reconnected, it's been coming back to me.” 

“I figured it might. We brought someone for you, though. Just in case.” 

She hums, standing up and turning around. “I know.” 

Uldren stares at her, his world slowing to a stop in the distance between them. Kayleigh steps towards him, lifting a hand to touch his, just as they had in his mind. Uldren takes longer to respond. He almost doesn’t dare to hope. 

Cayde shakes his head at them, Kayleigh’s white robes not begetting the blood she’s spilled in her long years and Uldren’s childlike innocence almost comical. She's the one to twine their fingers together. 

Kayleigh always was braver than Uldren. They both knew it. 

“The tension here is palpable, kiddos. Just kiss already.” 

Kayleigh rolls her eyes at Cayde, exasperation and feigned annoyance clear in her expression. “Don’t test your luck, 6. You still owe me money.” 

Cayde almost crows with joy, even though she's bringing up his glimmer debts. _She remembers._

Uldren makes a face. “Kayleigh.” 

She turns. 

“Please, help me. From the very moment I awoke, you’ve been in my being. I.... I don’t know why, but nothing makes sense without you.” Uldren recalls something Cayde said before. “I need you to heal me.” 

“Heal?” 

Cayde glances over at Shiro, the other Hunter keeping his eye on the horizon. The area was once a magnet for Fallen, and it still might be the case. Traveler knows Cayde hasn’t been paying any attention. 

Kayleigh meets Uldren’s golden gaze, reaching up to put a hand to the back of his head. Painstakingly slow, she pulls their foreheads together. “I can’t heal you, Uldren.” 

“Kayleigh -” 

“I can’t, because I need you to heal me, too.” 

Uldren wraps his arms around her, clinging to her as if his life depends on it. As far he he’s concerned, and with the evidence presented to him so far, it very well might. “Together, then?” 

Kayleigh lets out a weak laugh, burying her face in his chest. “Together.” 


End file.
